AFL would have paid more for Folau

Israel Folau is likely to again be offered a hefty promotional wage by the AFL as chief executive Andrew Demetriou looks to keep the rugby league convert in the game beyond 2014.

The AFL beefed up the code-switch carrot on offer to Folau and Karmichael Hunt by signing them as ambassadors when the pair initially quit the NRL.

Hunt was re-signed by Gold Coast as a player, and by the AFL as an ambassador, when he extended his contract this week until the end of the 2014 season.

Demetriou expects the same offer will be forthcoming to Folau, whose four-year multi-million dollar deal finishes in 2014.

"Israel Folau continues to show on a weekly basis that someone who has never played the game can learn the game," Demetriou said.

"If he continues to take the marks he took last weekend, take a few more of those in a game, we'll soon be talking to Israel Folau about his commitment in the long term.

"We want Israel Folau and Karmichael Hunt to stay in the game. They're great ambassadors for our game."

Demetriou wrote a memo to all club presidents and chairmen, chief executives, coaches, football managers and every listed player in 2010, outlining the reasons why the AFL bankrolled the recruitment of Hunt and Folau.

Almost two years on, Demetriou admits he undervalued the pair's immense marketing worth.

"Both have returned our investment in spades. In fact, they're in credit," he said.

"What we invested in them from the promotional aspect has been - well they've returned it over and above what we could ever have imagined.

"And I say that sincerely. I would have paid significantly more to get the return that we got.

"But the good thing is that they enjoy doing it. They don't do it begrudgingly.

"I listen to Karmichael Hunt talking about the fact he hasn't had this much fun since playing basketball as a teenager.

"It's a great environment to be in and Israel's enjoying it too."

Folau is the figurehead of the AFL's foray into rugby league heartland, which was again on show at Wednesday's reception at New South Wales' Parliament House.

Premier Barry O'Farrell, the man who celebrated an election win at Parramatta Leagues Club and is a Wests Tigers tragic, hosted Demetriou, Folau and numerous Sydney-based players and AFL big wigs.

O'Farrell harked back to his first meeting with Demetriou, a day after the AFL had announced the establishment of Greater Western Sydney.

"I suggested then that he needed long pockets. He said that they did have those long pockets and I'm pleased that four years on, we're here now," O'Farrell said.

Time will tell how the AFL's $120 million venture fares, but Demetriou already knows who is at fault if things do not work out.

"We've been accepted ... the welcome mat has been put out," Demetriou said.